Relieve several top officials: Home Ministry tells Delhi Govt

New Delhi: Delhi Government has been told by Union Home Ministry to relieve several top officials whose transfers were temporarily suspended in February following a request by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit as they were involved in budget making exercise of the city government.

The Home Ministry had in early February transferred five senior officials of city Government out of the Delhi but following a request by Dikshit to Home Minister P Chidambaram, the officials were allowed to stay back till completion of the budget session of the Delhi Assembly.

Top sources said that the city government has last month sent a letter to the Union Home Ministry requesting it allow the officials to stay a little longer in the city but instead the Ministry asked it to releive the officials soon.

All these officials were involved in Budget making exercise of the city government. The budget session of the Assembly came to an end on March 28.

Srivastava was moved to Andaman and Nicobar Islands, while Sharma was appointed as adviser to the administrator of the Union Territory of Chandigarh. The governor of Punjab is ex-officio administrator of Chandigarh.

Verma was transferred to Goa and Negi was moved to the northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh.

A bureaucratic reshuffle is also on the cards in city government.

Chief Secretary Rakesh Mehta has already been appointed as the new state Election Commissioner.
Mehta, a 1975-batch IAS officer of UT cadre, will continue as the Chief Secretary of Delhi till a new person is appointed to the post.

PK Tripathi, Dikshit`s principal secretary since 2006, is all set to become the next Chief Secretary of Delhi.